American Airlines 707 Jet Stewardess

A country girl goes to the big city where she faces the lures of glamor and temptation mingled with the wiles and snares of deceit. All this could become ruinous or could be overcome by hard work and attention to the values which motivate good choices.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Gratitude flooded my heart on January 25th as I pondered the 28th anniversity of American Airlines first jet powered flight across the United States from Los Angeles to New York City. The hustle and bustle filled our cottage on Kerwood Avenue in West Los Angeles with excitment because the four of us were being trained on the new Boeing 707 jet.

Gerry and Jerry

Claire

Barbara

The Inaugural Flight has been a historical memory. for jet travel.

Argie

February 17, 2017 will find me at the Salt Lake International Airport for a book signing. My book, More Than a Ticket: Memoirs Flying with American Airlines from Props to Jets, can be purchased at the Weller Book Works at the airport.

Argie with friend Mariah

Mariah will join me on the 17th of February for the book signing. We will be in Terminal 2, Weller Book Works and after passengers pass through security.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

On my first glance at More Than A
Ticket I was thrilled to see Chapter one, A Young Girl from Animas Valley.
I love coming home remembering riding the old school bus an extra hour
to spend the night or weekend with you. Sometimes your mother was
helping us sew matching garments. It was a time when education,
honesty and integrity was uppermost. Our mothers worked untiringly to
provide nutritious meals and a clean inviting home, requiring of us the
preparation of table, set carefully with a clean ironed white cloth. We
had the privilege of contributing to family life - - the industry of
the home. I love to remember sitting around the table enjoying the
wonderful homemade bread, meat and vegetables, even apple pie!! Don't
forget the conversation and laughter, and the fun we had!

Our
hardworking fathers, whose word was as binding of a contract,
exemplified honesty and integrity; and expected the same in us,
requiring respect and courtesy. I love to remember our brothers coming
in with the white foamy fresh milk and working alongside our fathers.

On Saturday when we sewed or you did the mountain of ironing, we could always take a little time to play the piano and sing.

My
hope as I have read your book more than once is that today’s generation
could see the worth of a work ethic. It was your background that made
it possible. “Get up sister and make something of yourself!” and you
did.

Love,

Carol

And that is the way it was in days gone by; work, work and then play before the sun goes down. We did not have a television, only a radio to listen to the western music as we made up the dance steps which the kids today think are new. No, we made them up in those country kitchens as we danced our lives away. The memories touch my heart in a way which only the good ole western music can trigger. Carol and I were cheerleaders together as we used our creative words to yell as our basketball team would win their games and sometimes "not."

The good looking, tall one on the back row is C.L. Hoskins.

Chapter One

A Young
Girl from Animas Valley

I grew
up on a ranch in Animas Valley in southern New Mexico with my

brother,
Charles Leslie, or C. L. for short. I was born in 1935 in Deming,

New
Mexico, in the midst of the Great Depression, the same year that
Franklin

Delano
Roosevelt signed off on the Social Security Act. We were poor

of
means, but I didn’t know it at the time, and I don’t remember
ever going

hungry.
We had little, but that was how things were for everyone we knew.

My wise
parents, Al and Edna, instilled in me the values of honesty and hard

work.
They taught me the importance of staying clean, keeping out of debt,

being a
good citizen, respecting the flag, appreciating America, and minding

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Good Morning and have a great day exploring your world of adventures. Life isn't boring!Our minds can create more than movies can create. Create a happy dream and live it when the door opens because the door will close. However, push the door open! Enjoy! I am sharing some pictures from a "Home Talk Story" about my book: More Than a Ticket Memoirs Flying with American Airlines from Props to Jets.

"Home Talk Story" January 11, 2016

"Home Talk Story" January 11, 2016

"Home Talk Story" January 11, 2016

Pictures from January 25, 2016 Signing my book:

More Than a Ticket Memoirs Flying with American

Airlines from Props to Jets.

I am
excited to be at the Salt Lake International airport on the 11th of March 2016 to sign my book: More Than a Ticket Memoirs Flying with
American Airlines from Props to Jets. As you come through Terminal 1,
the Weller Book Works will greet you. I will be there from 8:00 am til
12:00 noon. I will welcome you with a smile and share my book.

And I am excited to be able to do another "Home Talk Story" on the 10th of March. Thank you!

Here is a little something from the book:Lt. Colonel Tony Vallillo began flying with the
United States Air Force in 1971 as a student flying T41, T-37 and
T-38 trainers. He spent much of his military career as Pilot and
Commander of the C-141A Straighter and C-5 Galaxy with Worldwide
Airlift Operations for Military Airlift Command. Tony has extensive
military flying experience in Europe, the Pacific, South America,
Africa and the Middle East including active duty in Operations Desert
Shield and Desert Storm. Captain Tony Vallillo spent his entire 31 year
commercial career with American Airlines, starting out as Flight
Engineer on the B-707 and B-727 and quickly advancing to First
Officer and Captain. Tony then became Chief Pilot for the JFK Base
where he was in charge of over 600 flight crew members, and also
Flight Manager of the American Terminal and Ramp. While at JFK he
planned and participated in the design and construction of the new
flight operations complex. Tony moved on to become Line Captain on
the A300 and B-767/757 primarily flying international routes ranging
through Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and the Pacific.
Captain Vallillo retired from American in 2008.

The
combined length of Tony's Air Force and airline career, and they had
considerable overlap – was more or less 41 years. I was in the
USAF Reserves for 23 of my 31 years with AA.

These people were
more than passengers. They quickly became friends as we shared this

historical moment in
time. President C. R. Smith set the example as he strolled the aisle

connecting with the
passengers with cheer and good wishes. I, also, felt the association
as we

smoothly flew
through the clouds of time. Time and space seemed to be flying
through another

dimension. Through
the years it has been my pleasure to continue or renew some of these

honored
relationships.

My roommates and I
all jumped at a chance to fly together. So we put in

our bids for the
same jet trip to New York as often as possible. Our togetherness

created an
atmosphere of fun, warmth, and love. Lucky passengers!

When the jet age in
United States transcontinental air travel dawned on

January 25 with the
flight of an American Airlines Boeing 707 from Los

Angeles to New York,
the household probably most directly affected was

that of a “family”
of four stewardesses who live in a bungalow in West Los

Angeles.

Since that flight,
the four stewardesses have been averaging some 40,000

miles of jet travel
a week from Los Angeles to New York and back. Their

experience in these
early days of jet travel is helping to establish the pattern

of service aboard
the jets.

THEY PRACTICED IN A
MOCKUP

Although the four
girls each had two years of flying experience, they

virtually had to
re-learn their jobs when they were assigned to jets. During

their qualification
schooling, they acted out in a 707 mockup the parts

they were to play in
jet flight. They learned where supplies were and how

doors opened, lights
operated and seats reclined. They learned that new

equipment, such as
pop-out oxygen masks, is carried on the high-flying

707. They replaced
the phrase “miles per hour” with the word “Mach” in

their vocabulary;
“thrust” took the place of “horsepower” as they learned

the rudiments of the
operation of the airplane’s four Pratt & Whitney
Aicraft commercial J–57 engines. They became familiar with the names
and

functions of the
parts of the airplane visible from cabin windows—such as

the vortex
generator—which might arouse a passenger’s curiosity.

They had to know
their jobs well. They would be performing more services

for more people in
fewer hours. There would be no time for faltering,

fumbling, or finding
out.

For their part in
the inaugural flight, Claire and Argie even memorized the

names of the 106
passengers who would be aboard, in the hope that they

could make this the
signal day it should be for each of the first-flighters.

. . . There was
little time for the leisurely conversations they had enjoyed

with passengers on
previous trips. What snatches of chatting they managed,

however, were
unusually pleasant in the quiet, vibrationless cabin. . . .

A lot of changes
have taken place in the stewardesses’ job since that first

flight. With an
increased number of passengers requesting first-class accommodations,

the bulkhead on the
707 was moved back so that three of

the airplane’s
four stewardesses work in the front section with 68 passengers,

and one in the aft
with the remainder. The serving of the meal and

beverages and the
other routines in the jet cabin have undergone changes

as Claire, Barbara,
Gerry and Argie, along with other jet stewardesses,

have studied their own capabilities on the flights, the passengers’
requirements,

and the most
efficient way to use the 707’s cabin equipment.

All that being said, it is now history and a wonderful flight!

I am excited to be at the Salt Lake International airport on the 25th of January 2016 to sign my book: More Than a Ticket Memoirs Flying with American Airlines from Props to Jets. As you come through Terminal 1, the Weller Book Works will greet you. I will be there from 8:00 am til 12:00 noon. I will welcome you with a smile and share my book

Saturday, November 28, 2015

It is an honor for me to share a glimpse of my mother's life with this post. This is in my book: More Than a Ticket Memoirs Flying with American Airlines from Props to Jets.

My precious friend Carol wrote a comment:To my very best friend Argie,On my first glance at More Than A Ticket I was thrilled to see Chapter 1, a young girl from Animas Valley. I love coming home remembering riding the old school bus an extra hour to spend the night or weekend with you. Sometimes your mother was helping us sew matching garments. It was a time when education, honesty and integrity was uppermost. Our mothers worked untiringly to provide nutritious meals and a clean inviting home, requiring of us the preparation of table, set carefully with a clean ironed white cloth. We had the privilege of contributing to family life - - the industry of the home. I love to remember sitting around the table enjoying the wonderful homemade bread, meat and vegetables, even apple pie!! Don't forget the conversation and laughter, and the fun we had!Our hardworking fathers, whose word was as binding of a contract, exemplified honesty and integrity; and expected the same in us, requiring respect and courtesy. I love to remember our brothers coming in with the white foamy fresh milk and working alongside our fathers.On Saturday when we sewed or you did the mountain of ironing, we could always take a little time to play the piano and sing. My hope as I have read your book more than once is that today’s generation could see the worth of a work ethic. It was your background that made it possible. “Get up sister and make something of yourself!” and you did. Love,Carol

"Mama was a professional seamstress. She taught herself to sew and earned
a degree via mail from The Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences, a division of the International Correspondence Schools, in Scranton,
Pennsylvania. My memories of our kitchen table are of it covered with her
coursework for dress making and designing. Mama taught me to sew as well.
I remember the hours I spent on the sewing machine—and the hours more
ripping out the wrong stitches. But my Mother’s tutelage paid off. After we
got electricity, I made the most lovely of lovely prom dresses in my room. I
still have two of Mama’s textbooks which I display on my dresser, Sewing for Profit and Decorative Stitches and Trimmings.

While
Daddy worked and welded, Mama sewed gowns for the wives of the Big Bosses."

So, I well understood what it was like to have Mr. Colangelo "cut and paste" to design my uniform to have me look like a stewardess for American Airlines.

Yes, I was prepared to be hired by American Airlines for which I will always be honored and grateful. American Airlines you honored me by accepting me in 1957 to be trained by you and for you.Yesterday, I was again on my way to another book signing for More Than a Ticket Memoirs Flying with American Airlines from Props to Jet. Every month I am excited to sign my book at the Salt Lake International airport. I am sharing a few photos. This time my granddaughter Emily accomplished me. Fun for me to share this experience with my family.

So I wrote a book with some very special contributors who added a touch of class. And another month has passed. The Weller Book Works at the
Salt Lake International Airport wants me back. It is so hard to
believe that they support my book by having it stocked and displayed in
the store. They like me and I am honored.

In Terminal 1
the store has rather nice chairs where you can sit and read
before or after your flight. Passengers are so nice as they hurry to
their gates. You will find me at a table in front of the store on December 11, 2015 from 8:00 til 12:30.
I welcome passengers as they hurry through security on their way up the
escalator and searching for their gate. I ask them to take a look at More Than a Ticket Memoirs Flying with American Airlines from Props to Jets.

Mother's birthday as I sign my books and remember the wonderful influence you have been in my life. I miss you. Happy Day Mother.